In the dead of night
by GoofyGomez
Summary: A different take on the raid scene, as told from Louis's PoV


**BANG**

The gunshot rang through the silent courtyard like a cannon, followed by a grunt of pain. Louis swiveled to see Omar on the ground, clutching his bleeding leg. Before he could run to the boy, another gunshot sounded from somewhere outside the school and an explosion of dirt to his left rooted him to the spot.

"Hide, now!" he heard Clementine yell, and he obeyed. Turning to Tenn, he took his arm and led him through the courtyard toward the hallway outside the dorms. Together with Violet and AJ, the four of them knelt behind the brick wall.

Louis chanced a look over the ledge and saw Clementine dragging an injured Omar behind the tables they'd set up in front of the admin building. _Genius, Clementine, _he thought triumphantly.

His elation, however, was short-lived. A cold, calculating voice rang over the walls, seemingly magnified tenfold by the walls in the silence of the night. Louis recognized it as the voice of the woman who had pinned down Clementine in the forest with a rifle.

"Clementine! I know you're in there!" the voice said, sending shivers down Louis's spine. If he'd thought he was prepared for this raid, he had been sorely mistaken. Another shot whizzed through the air and landed just beside Omar before he was carried out of sight behind the tables.

His eyes darted to the trees beyond the walls, the only logical place a sniper could be. In spite of his best efforts, it was much too dark to spot whoever was behind the rifle, but their presence was surely noted. Another shot hit the side of the table in the middle, and Louis heard Tenn wince and shrink in on himself. AJ placed a small hand on the boy's shoulder, and Louis's respect for Clem's young charge increased tenfold.

"Open up, kids!" another voice yelled, much raspier than the woman's. It was the man who had been at the train station. Before he could relate this realization to Violet, a flash of light in the night sky caught his attention.

A flaming bottle had been flung over the wall and landed on the pile of rubble they had managed to set up against the gate as a barricade. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't counted on the raiders using fire, so their defenses were mostly made up of wood, which sparked almost instantly.

"This doesn't have to get any uglier!" the raspy voice shouted again as a resounding crash came from the gate.

"They're gonna get in!" whispered Violet alarmed, covering her mouth with one hand and holding her bow in the other.

"Don't worry," Louis said, with much more confidence in his voice than he could have dreamed of. "Clementine knows what she's doing."

He decided another peek at the courtyard wouldn't hurt and managed to glimpse Clementine vaulting over a table with dexterity and grabbing Marlon's compound bow. The sniper chanced another shot at the girl and missed by mere inches as she got behind the tables. With surprising strength, Clem lifted the table and tipped it so it would provide cover for her. _That's my girl, _Louis cheered mentally.

A cold autumn breeze blew past them, its whizzing, eerie sound almost mocking them in their struggle to keep their breathing steady. Another crash came from the door, and Louis could see its hinges beginning to give. Much like sardines in a can, they would be trapped between the admin building and the raiders.

"It's alright, we'll be okay–," Louis was about to say to Tenn, but the deafening slam of the gates crashing open silenced him immediately. From his underprivileged vantage point, he could barely catch a glimpse of the top of a carriage-like contraption being pulled by what could only be a horse.

The sound of boots and hooves hitting the hard-packed soil was the only thing they could hear, along with the crackling of the flames behind the raiders. He turned to Tenn, whose eyes were wide as plates, and pressed a finger to his lips, begging him to remain still whatever happened.

"The fuck is this shit?" a deep-voiced man said as Louis heard them halting to a stop.

"Focus, they're just scarecrows," another female voice responded, sounding annoyed. _So much for the element of fear, _Louis thought with sorrow. The heads-on-spikes idea had been his, after all. He heard the raspy voice say something incoherent and then the commanding voice of their leader replied in kind.

"Spread out," she said to the courtyard at large, a bored tone to her demeanor.

Silence. It was all Louis could hear at that moment. His heart was pounding so fast and hard he feared it would give him away any second. He peeked over the side of the wall, careful to remain as hidden as humanly possible, and saw Willy and Mitch hiding behind a bush barely ten feet away from them. The rustle of the bush's leaves caught a plump raider's attention, and Mitch's face of terror was the last thing Louis had expected to see.

At that moment, however, another, more enticing target captured the raider's interest. From the middle of the courtyard, Louis spotted Clementine standing tall, Marlon's compound bow in her hands. The arrow between her fingers was trained on Lilly's heart.

"Lilly!" she roared. All eyes and guns pointed in her direction at once, and Louis saw Lilly turn slowly to the girl, her eyebrows raised in bored interest. "Move and I'll shoot!"

"You won't get the chance," the man with the raspy voice said, standing beside a large, bearded man with a hunting rifle in his hands. _Clementine, what the hell are you doing?_

To his surprise, Lilly's open hand shot in the air, probably signaling whoever was in the trees to stand down momentarily. From the sidelines, Louis had a perfect view of the standoff the two women were engaging in. Unarmed, Lilly stepped forward toward the admin building, determination in her demeanor. She held little fear in her eyes, despite the fact that an arrow was aimed right at her.

"Where's our new recruits," she asked derisively.

"They're not yours!" Clem spat back, fire in her eyes. Her hand was steady as she pointed at Lilly, the D on her hat flapping softly in the breeze.

Lilly took a few tentative steps forward as if testing the water's temperature. When no arrow was forthcoming, she turned to her lackeys. "Search the yard," she commanded, gesturing to the multiple points of cover the kids had set up in advance.

The plump woman stepped closer to the bush Mitch and Willy were cowering behind, almost hungry in her stance. The balding man who'd threatened Clementine was approaching their wall and Louis had to pull Tenn closer to him to keep him from being seen. Their bodies pressed to the bricks, Louis hoped against hope that Clem had an actual plan.

He heard Lilly mutter something to one of her men, and the deafening silence made its appearance once again as three pairs of feet shuffled through the yard in search for Lilly's "recruits".

"We'll find them, Clementine," Lilly said. "And then we'll take them, and you, and your little boy."

"I don't think you wanna kill me," he heard Clementine shoot back, venom in her voice, "just like you didn't want to in the woods!"

"Shut up!" Lilly shot back lamely.

The small distraction was all it took, Louis saw. Mitch and Willy managed to sneak around the bush and behind the cart the horse had been pulling.

"You can't fucking do it, can you?"

Tenn pressed closely to his body, Louis shut his eyes tight and hoped Clementine knew what she was doing. He knew she was treading on thin ice, especially given that at least two guns were pointing directly at her. _Please, be alright…_

He heard Lilly sigh deeply and the shuffle of dirt as she shifted position. "You've changed," she said to Clem, almost longingly.

"I grew up," Clem replied, more calmly. "I had to in this fucking world, remember?"

"I can see that," Lilly said carefully. "God, you are _just_ like him."

_Like him?_ Louis thought. Who could they be talking about? His curiosity was stronger than his survival instinct, and his head peeked once again over the railing of the brick wall. Thankfully for him, all eyes were glued to the two women in the middle of the courtyard. He saw Clem's face harden at the sound of the last words, her glare intensifying.

"Lee would have been heartbroken, knowing he taught you all the wrong things," Lilly continued. Clem's eyes burned like a fire in the night, her muscles tensing even under her clothing. "That the sweet little girl he protected turned out like this…"

"You're right, Lilly, I am just like him," Clem said defiantly, "and if he saw me now, he'd be proud of who I am!"

_That's it, get her, Clem._ It was all he could do to keep himself from rushing to her side and stand beside her. His eyes traveled from the girl he liked to the woman he despised. Her hands were at her hips and her short hair was flapping in the wind as it picked up speed. Behind them, Mitch and Willy were setting up the bomb they'd devised, getting it ready for detonation. _Let's hope it works, Mitch._

"Why? Because you pick fights you can't win?" Lilly sneered. "Right, I'm sure that made all his sacrifices worth it."

Clementine stared at Lilly with a steely glare, as if looking at something disgusting stuck to the sole of her shoe. Louis looked back at Violet, who was also looking at the exchange, transfixed. He knew how she felt. It had never occurred to any of them how much more Clem had had to live through while they were holed up in this school for eight years.

"Get out!" Clem said coldly.

"If you won't help me find the others, I'll find someone who will," Lilly said, turning to the courtyard at large. "We've recruited from this school before."

Violet and Louis exchanged another meaningful look. It had been a year since the twins had mysteriously disappeared under Marlon and Brody's watch, only for them to find out they'd been taken to the raiders' camp as soldiers. It was clear what Lilly's approach would be, yet it didn't make it any easier for Louis to hear Lilly speak next.

"Minnie wanted to come along tonight!" she said to her hidden listeners. "To tell you how well she's adjusted to her life, how happy she is."

"That's bullshit," Violet spat under her breath, hurt flashing in her eyes for a second, yet enough for Louis to notice.

"She said she had a girlfriend back here," Lilly moved on. Violet's eyes went wide, and Louis gave her a look that he hoped conveyed sympathy and reassurance all at once. "Friends she missed, one guy who could always make her laugh, no matter what."

Thoughts of their stolen nights at the music room, playing their favorite songs on the piano as Sophie sang to them, swam into his mind's eye. He'd longed for those moments back for some time now, yet he knew he'd never get those back, no matter how hard he tried. _The past is gone, what matters now is the present_.

"And her little brother. She missed him the most."

Tenn's head perked up at the mention of him, and Louis felt dread rise up in his stomach. As resilient as he and Violet could be to such mental tricks, he knew Tenn wouldn't be as brave. His eyes landed on the boy and he almost screamed for him to stop, yet it was too late.

Tenn had risen up out of cover, his hands together in the same way he usually interlocked his forefingers. Cursing under his breath, Louis perked up and chanced another look at the scene, watching with horror as Tenn approached the tall woman.

When he reached her, he stood straighter. "Where are they?" the boy asked timidly, looking up at her.

"Let me take you to them," Lilly said in a convincingly pleasant tone, but Louis saw right through her. "You'll be happier where they are. They miss you."

"WAIT!" Clem's voice rang through the courtyard, and everyone seemed to freeze in their tracks. Even Tenn inched backward towards Louis and Violet. "Take me instead."

_No, what are you doing, Clementine?_

Lilly turned to Clem with a slight smirk. "It's a little late for bargaining, Clementine."

"That's what you came for, isn't it?" Clem said, clearly stalling. From behind the cart, Louis saw Mitch give him the thumbs-up and lead Willy back to the bush. "You came to find soldiers, and you can have me."

Lilly seemed to hesitate for a second, raising an eyebrow at Clementine's bravado. Louis's heart was thumping hard as if calling out to her to do the right thing. He didn't know what exactly _the right thing_ was, but he knew he was afraid to find out either way.

"And what would you have me give you in return," Lilly asked cautiously, crossing her arms. "I don't doubt you have all sorts of demands."

"I'll go with you as long as you leave this school and the group alone," Clem spat, her bow still poised. "I'll fight your stupid war, so long as my friends and family are safe from your hands."

"That's a lot to ask, girly," the raspy-voiced man said, stepping forward. "You would have us come back with just one scrawny little girl?"

"That scrawny little girl kicked your ass," AJ said suddenly, standing up out of cover. His fists were clenched at his sides and his teeth were bared in a feral way Louis had never seen in him. Lilly turned to the sound and let out a throaty chuckle at the sight in front of her. The boy was inching forwards with his trusty revolver in his hands, aimed right at Lilly's head.

"And who do we have here?" she said, scanning him up and down.

"That's the kid that was with the girl, back in the woods," the man beside her supplied, spitting on the ground. He then turned to the boy and bared his yellow teeth in a malicious grin. "How's that buckshot doing, kid?"

AJ ignored him, his eyes glued to Lilly. "If you take Clem, you'll have to take me too."

"No, AJ!" Clem shouted, and Louis heard the fear in her voice. "Stay down and let me handle this!"

The boy looked from his mentor to the woman in the middle of the courtyard and his stance wavered. His moment of hesitation was all Lilly needed.

In a swift motion, Lilly took hold of Tenn's arm and forced him to his knees. With her free hand, she drew her gun and held it to Tenn's temple. Louis let out a scream of rage from his hiding spot, yet he could not move. He felt glued to the spot.

"Anyone moves and the boy here will meet the same fate your leader did," Lilly shouted, pressing the barrel to Tenn's head. His eyes were shut tight and a small trickle of tears was streaming down his cheeks.

Lilly turned to Clementine, tugging Tenn with her, and smirked. "You see, Clementine," she said slowly. "You can't fight this."

Louis turned to Mitch and saw that he was inching closer toward the bomb. "Mitch, stop!" he whispered as loud as he could, yet it was too late. The fuse had been lit, and Mitch was already back behind cover.

A deafening roar of sound of flame rose up from behind the raiders, launching the burly man ten feet forwards, where he landed face-first into a small wall. He lay motionless there, and a trickle of dark blood oozed from what little of his forehead Louis could see.

"NO!" he heard the plump woman shout as she raised her gun and aimed at the spot where Tenn had revealed himself from. "You'll pay for this!"

In the middle of the courtyard, Clementine chanced an arrow at Lilly, but it whizzed past the woman's head by mere inches. At the sight, the plump woman trained her gun on Clementine and took a shot that nearly got her before the girl disappeared behind the tables once more.

Mustering all the courage he could, Louis rose from his hiding spot and aimed his rudimentary bow at the raiders. He shot an arrow in the general direction of the balding man, yet he was too quick for his atrocious aim and swerved out of sight. The man raised his shotgun and fired a shot at them, missing their hiding spot by about a yard.

"Tenn, come here!" Violet yelled to the boy, who raised his head and spotted Violet beckoning him forward. He lifted himself off the ground as Louis shot another arrow at the man, which also missed.

"Oh no, you don't," he heard Lilly say coldly, raising her gun.

It was over in a second.

Before Louis or Violet could call to him, the bullet has already penetrated Tenn's back and exited just below his chest, a dark pool of blood staining his blue sweater. His eyes went wide for a moment before he collapsed to the ground and fell with a deafening thud.

It couldn't be real, Louis thought numbly. Tenn wasn't dead, he was just hurt. He couldn't, _wouldn't _believe it. He heard a cry of pain as an arrow pierced the plump woman's leg, and saw with triumph Clementine holding the compound bow in her hands.

This time, however, she was not ready for the shot. The bullet came from somewhere in the trees and lodged itself in Clem's left shoulder, making her cry out in pain and duck, disappearing behind cover.

"Clementine!" Louis yelled, firing another useless arrow somewhere in Lilly's vicinity. Lilly darted behind cover as the balding man and the other woman fired shot after shot toward Louis and Violet's hiding spot.

From somewhere to his right, Louis heard Aasim yell for them to duck, and so Louis did. He saw Aasim stand tall over the brick wall and fire an arrow that somehow found its target as Louis heard the balding man yell with anger.

"Now, go!" Aasim said. Aasim, AJ, Willy, and Mitch managed to slip through the temporal ceasefire while Louis and Violet kept the shots at bay with their bows. When they were safely inside, Louis spotted the man with the shotgun and the plump woman follow them in. He was about to warn them but another shot made him duck under cover. Violet followed his lead and the two of them were once again pinned down with no way to escape.

"You think they'll come for us?" Louis asked under his breath. "They know we're here."

"I don't think so," Violet said in an equally low voice, yet almost confidently. How she could be so sure, Louis would never know. "They know Clementine is their greatest threat so they will just want to keep us at bay."

"When did you become a master strategist?" Louis asked incredulously. Even in the slight darkness of dusk, Louis saw his friend smirk.

"While you and Clem were making out in the music room," she teased, raising an eyebrow.

"You, uh, how do…" Louis stammered, averting his eyes, but his demeanor gave him away too easily.

"I knew she liked you," Violet said truthfully. Louis had learned to discern between Violet teasing him and her being honest ages ago. It was one of the perks of being her best friend. "I'm happy for you."

He looked down at his hands, forgetting for a moment that they were being gunned down by raiders and remembering the times when he and Violet would sit on his bed and just talk all night. They would usually talk about the rest of the kids, and who they liked the most. He had been the first person she'd talked to about her crush on Minnie, and it had been he who set them up three years ago.

A resounding crash brought him back to reality. Through the windows on the upper floor of the admin building, Louis could see the soft tendrils of flame eating away at the structure. On the balcony off of the principal's office, Clementine and the tall man fought for control of his shotgun. He landed a blow at the side of her head and she almost collapsed, but AJ stood beside her and managed to poke the man in the ribs with the hearth poker.

His cry of pain was barely muffled by the creaking of the balcony. A second later, the entire structure had given way beneath them and Clem and the man were plummeting to the ground below. She landed over his body with a thud, and for a moment, Louis feared she was unconscious. To his great relief, she raised her head and looked over to where he and Violet were hiding.

Violet seemed about to say something when they spotted Lilly striding over to the two figures in the middle of the courtyard. She stood over Clementine, using the butt of her rifle to hit the side of her head. With a grunt of pain, Clementine lay on her back, leaning on her elbows for support. The barrel of Lilly's gun was pressed against her forehead.

"Do it, then!" he heard her yell, fury irradiating from her. "I'll see you in hell."

"Oh, you'll be there a long time before get there," Lilly sneered, her finger caressing the trigger.

Leaning forward and pressing her forehead tighter against the metal, Clem said, "I don't mind waiting."

As Clementine closed her eyes and fear started seeping into Louis's body, he noticed a movement to his left. To his surprise, Violet had risen to her feet and was sneaking toward Lilly, her trusty cleaver in her hand. "Violet!" he whispered, reaching for her yet unable to touch her.

He stood up as well, raising his bow toward the middle of the courtyard, where another woman Louis hadn't seen before had just wrestled Mitch to submission and pinned him down. As her eyes scanned the rest of the scene, they fell on Violet and widened.

"Oh no," Louis whispered, but it was too late.

"LILLY! Behind you!" the woman screamed, and it was all Lilly needed to know.

In a swirl of movement, Lilly had jumped up and rounded on Violet aiming the rifle at her and pulling the trigger, enveloping Louis's ears in sound. He heard nothing as he watched the red stain on Violet's lower back expand, nor did he hear Clementine's cry of fury as Lilly rounded back on her and Violet's knees gave way.

"VIOLET!" he managed to yell after he'd broken out of his daze. Throwing caution to the wind, he threw his bow on the ground and rushed to Violet, kneeling beside her. No other yell filled the void that had fallen upon the courtyard. His ears were ringing, yet he heard Violet's voice as sharp as if she'd been screaming.

"Louis," she said, gripping his left sleeve with one hand and clutching her stomach with the other.

"You're gonna be okay," he said, shaking his head, willing his body not to collapse. "You're not dying, you're okay. I won't let you." Tears streamed down his face, dripping onto Violet's face. This could _not _be happening, he thought.

"It's okay," she said, coughing. Her lips red with blood, Louis was surprised she managed a smile. "I'll be with Minnie now." _No, stop it! Don't say that!_

Before he could disagree with her, however, she shut her eyes and breathed deeply. After a few seconds, she breathed her last and her body lay still under Louis's arms. He knelt over her body, hunched over, unwilling to raise his head. _This is all just a dream, _he told himself. _Just a messed up dream, and any moment now, Violet will come wake me up._

But Violet's voice never came; never would again. He heard the heavy thuds of boots hitting hard-packed soil coming towards him. Strength had left him. What point was there in fighting back? A rumble of voices echoed from the admin building, rushing towards them at surprising speed.

He heard Aasim first, his voice strained from running, off in the distance. His yell of, "LOUIS!" was the last thing he heard before the butt of a gun hit him in the back of the head and darkness consumed him. He welcomed it, eager to join Violet.

Hours later – or it could have been seconds, he couldn't be sure – he awoke in a dark, grimy room. The wallpaper was moldy and peeling off in places, and the floorboards creaked under his weight. Still dazed, he stumbled up and leaned on his elbow and looked around.

A small, circular window stood over him, moonlight seeping through it and bathing the small room in a silver hue. It was then that he noticed the place itself was _rocking._

"We're on a boat?" he muttered to himself. His voice was hoarse as if he hadn't used it in days, and he tried to recall the events that led him to be there. The raiders had come into the school, set the admin building on fire, and…

"No," he whispered, shaking all over. "Violet…"

He searched for a way out and found a barred door on the other side of the room, half of it covered by a dark metal sheet. A bolt locked it in place from the other side. He reached for it, but his fingers barely scraped the metal. The hallway beyond was lit by a small, yellowish lamp that hung from the ceiling, swaying gently with the rest of the boat.

"Hey!" he called out, knowing that no one would respond yet eager for something to do. Anything to keep his mind from the school and the rest of his friends.

He banged on the bars of the door but no one came. Giving up the effort, he kicked a small bucket, which clanked and banged until it halted to a stop near a moth-eaten mattress on the floor. There were three other doors outside: one in front of him and two to his left. Two of them seemed empty, and he could make out a silhouette in the third on the opposite side, yet the figure did not present itself to him.

"Hey, you," he called to them, hoping they were friendly. Shadows shrouded the person from view, swallowing them whole as they rocked back and forth in a fetal position. "What the…?" he muttered, tilting his head.

A few minutes passed in silence, the only sound the splashing of water against the boat's hull. He didn't dare speak again, lest he frightened the figure further. A soft breeze was blowing past the open window from one of the empty cells. He shivered.

He slumped down and sat against the wall beside the door, tapping his finger on the floor, humming. He recalled a number of songs from his youth. Most of them wouldn't fit his situation, however. Before he could settle on a gloomy enough song, he heard a noise come from outside his cell.

It wasn't speech, he could tell, but it was definitely a person making that sound. He pressed his face to the door and strained his ears. It was crying. The figure in the cell was crying. A girl. _Was it Ruby? Or maybe… Violet?_

Questions flew through his mind and vanished as soon as they came, for the voice that came from the figure belonged to neither Ruby nor Violet.

"Fuck," Clementine said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her cries turned to sobs, and Louis was too speechless to even provide comfort. How could Clementine be taken? _It must have been pretty bad back there…_

Before a question could escape his lips, something else escaped Clem's. It was singing. Not the most melodic of songs nor, perhaps, the most appropriate. Louis fell silent as he listened.

"_Happy birthday to you_," Clementine sang in an undertone. It would have been hard to hear her if the rest of the hallway wasn't so silent. Entranced, Louis let her continue.

"_Happy birthday to you,_

_Happy birthday, dear Clementine…_"

It felt like a knife had been plunged through his heart and had ripped it from his chest. The whole night; the events that had transpired, from the moment her lips had touched his, seemed to belong to another life altogether; a world less cruel than the one he and Clem currently inhabited.

"_Happy birthday… to me._"

As she finished the song, Clementine bowed her head low and begun sobbing again, the full weight of her actions and their consequences dropping on her shoulders at last. _It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it is. _

That was the only thing Clementine seemed capable of thinking, yet she didn't argue. It was true, after all. No matter where she went, no matter how far she ran, death always loomed near, ready to tear her apart. She was sick of it, tired. What was the point? She couldn't even bring herself to look at Louis, who was looking at her from the other cell. She could feel his eyes boring into her back. His judgmental eyes…

_He probably hates me, _was the last thing she thought before her eyes drooped and sleep finally consumed her, providing the relief she craved so badly. At least, now she couldn't hurt anyone else…


End file.
